Kai Sedlmayer, ASNIC President, and the New ASNIC Student Government Board

Kai Sedlmayer has been elected as the Associated Students of North Idaho College (Or ASNIC) president and will take office in the fall semester of 2020. She served this year as Vice President and is double-majoring in journalism and pre-law. Sedlmayer is passionate about the details of her position and is dedicated to ensuring that the student’s voices are heard. 

Sedlmayer’s involvement in ASNIC student government came from her interest in the clubs at NIC. She participated in many clubs during her freshman year and even started a club herself, the Secular Student Alliance. During the Inter Cultural Club meetings, she came in constant contact with the student government at NIC and realized that she wanted be a part of ASNIC. 

“I really loved the clubs,” Sedlmayer said, “and I wanted to do whatever I could to help them and that is exactly what the Vice President’s job is.”  

Sedlmayer ran for Vice president in the spring of her sophomore year and is finishing out that term this semester.  

“It was honestly kind of perfect.” Sedlmayer said of her position as Vice president. “I was very surprised that I got it.” 

Sedlmayer said that Student Government accomplished a lot this year. They offered a Mental Health First Aid Training and they also updated their constitution, a project that took them almost the entire school year. They made sure that it clearly represented how student government works and what it stands for. 

Sedlmayer said, “Hopefully people who might be interested in understanding what student government does or want to get involved can read through it and they’ll actually understand it a little bit better.”   

Sedlmayer’s run for president changed with the COVID-19 outbreak. She said the process felt different since she couldn’t campaign in person, but the elections still moved forward. The student body elected Sedlmayer as ASNIC president and she will take office next semester after she finishes out her term as vice president.  

Because of COVID-19, ASNIC student government is unsure what the coming fall semester will look like, but Sedlmayer wants to focus even more on student support.  

“We are here for you.” Sedlmayer said. “We will do our best to help you. Whatever it may be.”  

Jestine Lackner, a freshman business student at NIC, has been elected ASNIC Vice president. She will take office with Sedlmayer and the rest the new student government board in the fall semester.   

Next fall, Jestine Lackner will take office as ASNIC Vice President for her sophomore year at NIC. This year she served as a senator and like Sedlmayer, Lackner said she was proud of ASNIC’s accomplishments.
“Honestly I was just so proud of everybody’s individual work and how we came together as a team.” Lackner said.

Lackner said that she served on the student government at her high school and knew that once she started college, she wanted to hit the ground running and get involved with the student government at NIC. Her soccer coach pointed her in the right direction and Lackner ran for senator. 

The student body elected Lackner as a senator last fall, and she has served as a senator since then. The executive branch of ASNIC also appointed her president pro tempore. This position allowed her to act as a mediator between the executive members and the senators.  

This spring, the student body elected her as the new ASNIC Vice President.

As Vice President, Lackner said that she wants to let students know that ASNIC is the voice for the student body. She said she is focused on making sure the student’s voices are heard.  

“I think the biggest thing is really the fact that all the students on campus have a voice.” Lackner said. “We have a student government that will speak for them and will amplify their voices. That’s really what our mission is.” 

Sedlmayer, Lackner and ASNIC senators Angela Unruh, Marian Soderberg, Annie Vladovska, Hannah Neff and Jameson Wasson, will take office in the fall and serve as the ASNIC student government for the 2020-2021 school year.